WotC introduced it, I believe. Tied in really well with the expanded strategy map stuff, and all the added variety to missions.
It was part of a broader effort to systemtically discourage having one "super" squad dominating your run.
It was part of a broader effort to systemtically discourage having one "super" squad dominating your run.
So I have been playing XCOM Enemy Unknown (planning to play this and the second game first before Chimera) and I really like the "random" nature of missions (stuff like enemies, maps, etc).
Is it the same in Chimera Squad ?
Is it the same in Chimera Squad ?
Js it just me or is Torque's tongue pull nearly impossible to land on enemies if literally anything is between her and them
Like I can target allies from 30 feet away with four layers of cover between us but can't get a trooper standing out in the open with one desk in the way
Like I can target allies from 30 feet away with four layers of cover between us but can't get a trooper standing out in the open with one desk in the way
i dunno, i've landed every clutch tongue pull i needed. I am playing on normal I think though.
torque's tongue pull is so good for evac missions btw. you can leave someone behind to play catchup and then just yank em straight to the exit
torque's tongue pull is so good for evac missions btw. you can leave someone behind to play catchup and then just yank em straight to the exit
WOTC does use a willpower system. It is a fine system imo. You can still use characters that need rest but I think there is a large penalty afterwards and they have low willpower during the mission.
I'm sure it's very accurate but the problem is I can't even target enemies with it. anytime I select it I can only cycle through allies is the whole issue.
I'm not talking about it missing, guys. I'm talking about it literally not being able to target enemies, sorry for any confusion.
Not every enemy can be tongue pulled, so they do not even give you the option to try. It also has a shorter range than primary attacks iirc.
Yeah
Yeah but I haven't been able to target ANY of them. Is it because I picked Sacred Coil first? Are a lot of them immune?
Yeah but I haven't been able to target ANY of them. Is it because I picked Sacred Coil first? Are a lot of them immune?
i think the bots are? Any beserkers are as well. You should be able to target the commandos at least.
I haven't played this yet but one concern is that the interleaved turns might diminish the decision space as one of the satisfying elements in regular XCom is the puzzle of decided in what order the squad should take their actions . I guess this has been replaced with longer term planing on how to position the squad based on turn order, but I'm not sure if that scratches the same itch. Can anyone who's played comment on how this works out in practice?
A lot of the bots are, yeah. Anything not muton sized or smaller, roughly humanoid, and organic can't be pulled.
Personally I'm a big fan of the alpha strike basis of XCOM so the interleaved turns suck for that BUT I do think one advantage is that the game has been balanced accordingly around your characters actually taking hits instead of being laid out in a single shot. Healing is more available and less costly on actions, some characters like Axiom specifically benefit from being shot, etc.
It has disadvantages but it does have the benefit of turning the fights more into actual fights instead of an ambush simulator. Arguably the ambushing focus works better for previous games since the whole point is supposed to be that you are underpowered and outnumbered but in this one you have a much stronger starting point so you can fight fire with fire a little better.
Plus the new Breach mechanic helps add a little bit of that alpha strike back.
I honestly love the new interweaving turns except when it comes to reinforcement waves (where often three guys will kick down a door and just shoot someone
But I was never a huge fan of alpha strike stuff, and the way it's been heavily rebalanced ('nades and other items not taking a action point is a huge buff etc) is part of it. I find a lot of my focus becomes on how to take out or otherwise reduce the threat capacity of the next enemy on the turn order while planning forward for other encounters etc, which is a pretty satisfying puzzle element that is at least the equal of trying to maximise use of your turn in OG XCOM.
Also, I actually appreciate that it kind of forces your hand a little bit. That said, it's one of those things that's only really possible because of the overall changes (it doesn't hurt as much to get shot a little in this game since on the strategy layer everybody just insta-heals from everything except gravely wounded).
I honestly hope they find a way to bring it into XCOM 3.
But I was never a huge fan of alpha strike stuff, and the way it's been heavily rebalanced ('nades and other items not taking a action point is a huge buff etc) is part of it. I find a lot of my focus becomes on how to take out or otherwise reduce the threat capacity of the next enemy on the turn order while planning forward for other encounters etc, which is a pretty satisfying puzzle element that is at least the equal of trying to maximise use of your turn in OG XCOM.
Also, I actually appreciate that it kind of forces your hand a little bit. That said, it's one of those things that's only really possible because of the overall changes (it doesn't hurt as much to get shot a little in this game since on the strategy layer everybody just insta-heals from everything except gravely wounded).
I honestly hope they find a way to bring it into XCOM 3.
I have seen enemies miss theirs, which was very funny.
I hope XCOM3 will have the best of both worlds: different missions, with different objectives, and characters more tuned for an ambush, characters better at breaches, characters more for exploring and being sent to places where we won't know what to expect...
I find Torque annoying because while she's great in missions where everyone needs to evac, I feel like the game never really explicitly tells you that so it's only after the mission has started that I discover I should have taken her along. It sucks because she's one of the rare characters that has some sort of specialization outside of DPS or support. The alternative is to take her all the time, but there are many missions where she's not ideal, so...
I'm going to be extremely disappointed if they use this turn system in XCOM 3, and I think this game is VERY GOOD, bordering on GREAT, if they patch some issues, and some decent mods come out.
I feel exactly the same. I think Chimera Squad is a fun game and that the interleaved system is good in the context of a spin-off. But for a main game, I hope they will keep the old system, that gives much more freedom, less randomness, and an overall better paced game.
I hope they're drastically reworking the pod system tbh.i can take or leave turn order, but the fact you spend so much time in xcom desperately trying not to activate a new pod is awful. The best part of xcops is knowing you won't trigger the next encounter before you're ready for it
There is an Andromedon Reserve in the city.
Why. Just why.
Think about it though, if Andromedons are somewhat of accepted as citizens, even if they are stuck in a reserve, what does that mean for Gatekeepers.
They too are partly organic, so is there a Gatekeeper reserve ?
But about "hideous", seeing how thirsty people are about Vipers, not the word i would have used.
I can agree with that, the pod system does need improvement. A huge issue of it is that they program it so another pod is always just out of sight, with the idea being less hunting for pods like in EU/EW, but what that means is you are almost guaranteed to activate a pod on pushing/flanking maneuvers, which stinks.
I love the combat puzzle of the alpha strike but I also like the more even fights of chimera squad. Breach is a good compromise I'm just not sure how they translate it to more open ended missions.
that's hilarious lol, I was doing like 20-30% pulls because I thought it was bugged and could never miss
If they could proceduralize it, so once you spot a pod you get a sort of mini-Breach phase before combat starts... that could work.
The more I think about breach being in a main title, the less I want it. The less I think they can pull it off well, while keeping to what makes those games great. I think it works for this game, and maybe very limited use in a main title, and maybe it should just stay in this type of game. This game is basically balanced and tailored around breach and it works. But some of the things that make breach here great, like breach tools, turn order, breach abilities... this stuff would be just too much extra bloat in the main title or it would just feel inappropriate.
I wouldn't mind breach being a specific thing that happens on specific missions and you could build characters for that if you want, but that might be a bit much. I miss be able to actually use snipers and place people on top of buildings(or just jet packing into the air). And as much as the pod system might be a problem i actually do like searching maps and shit. I also dont have a problem with the time limits used in xcom 2 and kinda hope they come back, but i might be alone on that.
you aren't alone i also really enjoyed time limits. The time limits force me to take riskier actions instead of just taking the slowest safest chances possible. This for me makes the game more enjoyable because I have to choose between betting on my soldiers lifes or just abandoning the mission. I found it very thematic.
IMO breach would be really cool for the missions to capture Dark VIP or rescue your comrades. Specially if it is allowed to combine with guerrila stuff. For example 4 members do breach the other 2 do guerrila overwatch for when the enemy moves after the rbeach.
Is anyone else getting weird stuttering on PC every time a turn changes?
It's like every time it changes character the game drops frames before immediately stabilising again.
It's like every time it changes character the game drops frames before immediately stabilising again.
Yeah, trying to tiptoe around the battlefield while engaged in one pod so you don't activate another has always felt kinda awkward and overly meta game-y to me.
So Masterwork Armor says it gives an extra utility slot which I though would give me 3, but I guess the enhanced armor was the one that gave that extra slot?
Yo that final Sacred Coil mission is bananapants. Holy COW.
Y'all were NOT exaggerating about it. Never choose Sacred Coil first, it just won't go well at all.
Wasn't paying close attention to its description though.
Y'all were NOT exaggerating about it. Never choose Sacred Coil first, it just won't go well at all.
I think it's extra HP + utility slot for Enhanced, then extra HP + armour for Masterwork. Similar to how it was in XCOM 2, IIRC.
Wasn't paying close attention to its description though.
The little androids are cake though, the MECs are true hell on earth
I started the game on hard and it was so fucked up (maybe because I didn't quite get the systems at the start) that I started again on normal and around the time I finished the first investigation it became so easy that I now don't even care about who I send to a mission and the rest of the squad is just doing busy work, researching stuff I don't need and gathering resources I also don't need. I didn't even know you can use grenades when you breach and it is still a cakewalk. I think I'm nearing the end of investigation 3 now, I assume there is another thing after that but man, it's just really, really easy.
My anarchy level has been zero for so long I completely forgot I had a "reduce city anarchy" button installed.
The difficulty seems kinda off to me.
My anarchy level has been zero for so long I completely forgot I had a "reduce city anarchy" button installed.
The difficulty seems kinda off to me.
Getting all the characters to max level before the game ends was fun. Also, if on top of that they're all fully trained, then there's almost no difference, 4 fully trained guys can now the lawn in any combination.
I still think the game should have stopped at one investigation, with an option to NG+ until you see all three. Or have two squads of four+ a reserve studying two separate investigations, and then going together for the third. The current structure really doesn't make me feel like going another run. Maybe in a few months when QA is finished.
I still think the game should have stopped at one investigation, with an option to NG+ until you see all three. Or have two squads of four+ a reserve studying two separate investigations, and then going together for the third. The current structure really doesn't make me feel like going another run. Maybe in a few months when QA is finished.
The inverse difficulty curve is the worst thing about the XCOM series.
I finished up another backlog game then went back to this (said I wasn't until patch was out), and I think I'm enjoying my second time through even more, but thinking about it, I believe it went that way with XCOM 1&2, and I replayed those a ton. Firaxis magic.
How do you use an android? I'm at the final confrontation and one of my squad members went down. I get the "Choose android" window but I can click whatever I want, it won't come into my squad?
Unless you've got a bug, you should be able to click the Android box in the middle of the screen to 'select' it - it is very unclear.
It gives you 3 utility slots. Two grenades, one medkit/ammo type. You can't equip 3 grenades.
Does that mean I'll have 2 plasma grenades? Because I also had 2 slots with the previous armor
Mastercraft armor gives you 1 extra utility, not 2 extra utility. Not 1 extra utility on top of the extra utility you get from the enhanced body armor. Just 1 extra utility.
Well, the game doesn't let me play the final (I assume) mission and instead always crashes when I cleared the area before the final encounter.
Cool
Cool
So, on my second playthrough and it seems there are multiple versions of each take down mission? Anyone have any idea what triggers one or the other?
I noticed the Grey Phoenix and the Sacred Coil missions were completely different than in my first playthrough.
My theory is that this is linked to the order you do the missions in, since the two changed missions where in both cases the final take down mission in the game. Can't find any info on this as the game is so new, but it's pretty fun to go into a mission thinking you know what to expect only to find that the entire mission has been turned inside out.
I noticed the Grey Phoenix and the Sacred Coil missions were completely different than in my first playthrough.
With Sacred Coil, in my first playthrough I had the final encounter in the Gate Room, in this second playthrough I started in the Gate Room and then moved into some new rooms leading to the Bellus Mar fight in the second encounter and a showdown with the Gatekeeper in the final encounter. The first time I played the Grey Phoenix takedown mission the final encounter was in a huge room while I fought off waves of enemies, while this time they all surrendered after the encounter where I killed one of their leaders.
The Progeny mission was the same though.
The Progeny mission was the same though.
My theory is that this is linked to the order you do the missions in, since the two changed missions where in both cases the final take down mission in the game. Can't find any info on this as the game is so new, but it's pretty fun to go into a mission thinking you know what to expect only to find that the entire mission has been turned inside out.
Probably halfway through each investigation, you get a choice between two options. And I believe those affect what choices are available in the other investigations.
I had two different end missions for Gray Phoenix on each of those runs.
edit - ended up buying WotC. Thought I'd be able to hold off because Gears Tactics came out, but after a few hours of that, it was super repetitive. And judging by my previous playtime with XCOM2, it actually took me less time to finish that, than Chimera.
I had two different end missions for Gray Phoenix on each of those runs.
edit - ended up buying WotC. Thought I'd be able to hold off because Gears Tactics came out, but after a few hours of that, it was super repetitive. And judging by my previous playtime with XCOM2, it actually took me less time to finish that, than Chimera.
Just beat the game on expert, loved it, best $10 I ever spent. My end squad was Zephyr (fav), patchwork, godmother, and blue blood. I ended up getting an epic pistol with quick hands for blue blood, allowing him to shoot 3 times in one turn. Epic. I also got bluescreen rounds from an early mission which made sacred coil a joke. I got an epic shotgun with rapid fire, and a motilizer(?) that gave someone a free turn early as well. I got an AR with banish, basically allowing me to kill any enemy.
My playtime was 20 hours. for $10! Had a complete blast. Will do another playthrough someday, probably after a long war style mod is made for it.
My playtime was 20 hours. for $10! Had a complete blast. Will do another playthrough someday, probably after a long war style mod is made for it.